Foldable seats or supports have been patented and marketed for many years but have not been extensively used because of certain limitations inherent in the prior art structures. Many of such seats or supports were made of lightweight materials, usually corrugated cardboard, and such materials could only support light loads. If it was deemed necessary to support heavier loads, a greater amount of such material had to be incorporated into the seats or supports which made the seats or supports heavy and bulky. Many of such seats were difficult to fold and assemble and, once assembled into an operable seat, could not quickly and easily be unfolded and thereafter refolded in a certain manner or sequence to quickly convert the seat or support into a tightly secured and self contained compact bundle or package for carrying, for use as a seat cushion, or for storage.
Prior art seats or supports made of corrugated cardboard were particularly susceptible to water or moisture damage after which such seats or supports would lose their structural integrity and would have to be discarded as being not suitable for use. Seats or supports made of corrugated cardboard also had the disadvantage that they could only be folded and refolded along fold lines a small number of times before weakening the fold lines. Repeated folding would quickly damage the fold lines and such would quickly affect the structural integrity of the seat or support.
Seats made of heavier and stronger materials such as metal, fiberboard or plywood would support heavier loads and would not be affected as severely by moisture. Seats or supports made of such materials were, however, bulky and harder to carry or transport. Such seats or supports were also more costly to manufacture, and the panels of the seats were connected in many instances by mechanical hardware such as hinges rather than along fold lines.
The seat or support of the present invention eliminates the disadvantages of the prior art by utilizing corrugated plastic as the material used in the construction of the seat or support. The corrugated plastic is comprised of polypropylene copolymers extruded into corrugated plastic sheets which are cut into one or more blanks which in turn are tightly secured together at their ends and cut and scored to provide fold lines and integral and foldable panels that can quickly and easily be folded into an assembled and operable seat. The integral and foldable panels can also be unfolded and thereafter refolded in a certain manner or sequence to quickly convert the seat into a tightly secured and self contained compact bundle or package for carrying, for use as a seat cushion, or for storage.
The corrugated plastic is waterproof and a seat or support constructed therefrom will not be structurally impaired when exposed to moisture. The corrugated plastic will support heavy loads and will not fail along the fold lines after repeated bending.
A seat or support incorporating the present invention is comprised of a combination of structural elements not disclosed, suggested or taught by the prior art and such structural elements as well as the functions thereof will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter. The seat or support of the instant invention, also as will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter, includes auxiliary components or hardware which hold the panels of the seat in tight engagement and also position or preposition certain panels of the seat or support to effectively carry and distribute a load applied to the seat or support.